Conventionally, when a transfusion is performed to a patient, for example, a catheter assembly is used. The catheter assembly can include a hollow catheter, a catheter hub adhered to a base end of the catheter, an inner needle inserted into the catheter and having a sharp needlepoint at a leading end, and a needle hub adhered to a base end of the inner needle. In a case where a transfusion is performed to a patient by using the catheter assembly, the catheter with the inner needle punctures a blood vessel of the patient, and the inner needle is evulsed from the catheter while the catheter is puncturing the patient after the puncture. Next, a connector provided at an end portion of a transfusion tube is coupled to a base end of the catheter hub, and a transfusion material is supplied into the blood vessel of the patient through the transfusion tube, the catheter hub, and the catheter.
In the use of the above catheter assembly, in order to help prevent a user from carelessly touching an inner needle having a sharp needlepoint after the inner needle has been evulsed from a catheter, a catheter assembly including a protector, capable of covering the inner needle after the evulsion has been proposed (for example, refer to JP 3808806 B1).
In a case of the conventional catheter assembly including a protector, a needle hub is constituted as a housing. In an initial state (before use), a leading end of the housing can include a base end of a catheter hub positioned thereat, and an exposure length of the inner needle from the housing is long. When a protecting function of the protector appears, a state where the protector that has been housed in the housing protrudes from the leading end of the housing and covers the inner needle protruding from the housing with the needlepoint, is acquired. Due to the above configuration, the conventional catheter assembly including a protector has a long entire product length in both the initial state and the needlepoint protecting state.